If we play this game long enough, evaluating every aspect of the story
of our lives, the negativity will become unbearably strong. This can
happen due to an adverse life event, or from trauma stored in our bodies
as “wounds” from the time of our conditioning, forming a deeply held
belief (“I need to be more”)
Here our brain, which is programmed
for looking for trouble to keep us safe – will default to a negative
judgment. And if we believe that judgment and form a narrative around
it, it can make life very uncomfortable.
Eckhart Tolle and others
refer to this propensity for always seeking more, or something else, as
the Ego. It is not who or what we are – it is a set of conditioned
beliefs that begin during early childhood.
Eckhart recounts a
time when his own set of beliefs led him to consider suicide. “I can’t
stand my life” he recounts thinking frequently.
This led to his
big epiphany and to his writing “The Power of Now.” Somehow the insight
came to him that he doesn’t have a Life – Life is what he is, and it is
always experienced in the present moment.
He noticed that when
he stopped trying to explain, understand or “account” for life, but just
live, circumstances improved and he was able to “take things lightly.”
(Something I am trying to emulate.)
A big shift can happen when
one begins to consider this perspective and adopts a feeling of
gratitude for the blessings one DOES have, rather than a continuous
sense of lack or being “less than” others – or who one was conditioned
to believe one must be....<<<Read More>>>...